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 Have
you ever wondered why you don't see too many movies about gangsters
in retirement? That's because there aren't any! After all, how could
there be? If there's anything that we've learned after decades of
mob movies, it's that whenever you try to get out, they keep pulling
you back in. Ray Winstone learns that same lesson the hard way in
Jonathan Glazer's edgy, stylish, ultra-intense, and completely engrossing
noir thriller Sexy Beast, a film that easily stands alongside
The Godfather, Goodfellas, Get Carter (the original), and Pulp
Fiction as one of the best modern mob movies ever made.
After years
of being one of the wiseguys in the British underworld, Gal Dove
(Ray Winstone) is now retired and spends his time drinking and eating
like a pig while baking himself to perfection under the sizzling
sun of his palatial Spanish seaside estate. He's seen it all, and
nothing fazes him--not even his near-death experience when a rogue
boulder narrowly misses his head and ends up in the deep end of
his pool. Indeed, he's cool as can be, but when Don Logan (Ben Kingsley),
his former crime boss, comes a-calling to make him an offer he can't
refuse, he's suddenly quaking in his sandals. Gal is determined
to turn down Don's offer no matter how persistent he is, but he
learns the hard way that Don is one of those people who just won't
take "no" for an answer.
Anytime a
former music video director takes his first stab at a feature film,
he runs the risk of over-doing it with too much hyper-kinetic editing
and too many fancy camera techniques. Fortunately, that's not the
case here. There's no doubt that director Jonathan Glazer was influenced
by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Danny Boyle,
but Sexy Beast has a look and style that's all it's own.
It's engrossing without being overpowering, it's stylish without
being pretentious, and it redefines the crime drama just as much
as it pays homage to it.
Without a
doubt, the highlight of Sexy Beast is Ben Kingsley's spectacular
performance as Don Logan. Two decades after he won critical accolades
for his portrayal of the saintlike Ghandi, he goes pretty far in
the opposite direction by playing a person who's so crazy and unpredictable
that he just may be the devil himself. The moment he appears on
the screen, you just want to stay the heck out of his way. There's
no telling what he's capable of, and he makes Joe Pesci's character
from Goodfellas seem like Mother Theresa by comparison.
Ray Winstone
is just as effective as Gal Dove, but in a completely different
way. He clearly enjoys living high on the hog, but Kingsley is quick
to point out that if he thinks he can just reap the rewards of his
old life without suffering the consequences, then he's got another
think coming to him. You can feel Winstone's desperation as he does
everything within his power to respectfully turn down Kingsley's
proposal, and considering that you can't help but root for him,
that makes him one of the most unusual on-screen heroes since James
Gandolfini first started busting heads on TV's The Sopranos.
There's no
doubt that Sexy Beast is what Guy Ritchie was shooting for
when he made both Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and
Snatch, but the fact is, he doesn't even come close. Instead
of ending up as just another long-form music video, Beast
relies on good old fashioned intensity while still being able to
take advantage of the bravura filmmaking that defines the new era.
It also features what has to be one of the most incredible bank
heists in recent memory, even if it does bring to mind—of all
things—Woody Allen's break-in from last year's Small Time
Crooks.
Ultimately,
Sexy Beast has the distinction of being both the hottest
and the coolest movie of the year, and you just have to see it.
I won't take "no" for an answer!
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